LeBron James likely will dominate NBA free agency talk over the summer, but The King hardly is the only noteworthy player who will be available on the open market in the offseason.

Marcus Smart, currently the longest-tenured member of the Boston Celtics, also will be a free agent once the 2017-18 season comes to a close. While Smart isn’t a max-contract type of player, his steady progression and unmatched intangibles likely will result in a large number of suitors.

While Celtics fans surely are hoping the tenacious guard would be open to a hometown discount in order to stay in Boston, don’t expect the 24-year-old to be keen on the idea. In a recent interview on ESPN’s “The Hoop Collective” podcast, Jackie MacMullan explained where she expects Smart’s head to be at once he hits free agency.

“I’ve talked to lots of people around the Celtics and around the league about Marcus Smart,” MacMullan said, as transcribed by UPROXX. “If Marcus Smart was willing to take a — let’s say Sacramento (Kings) for argument’s sake or another team that isn’t quite good and they offer him $14 million a year and the Celtics say, ‘We can’t pay you that. But we’ll pay you $12 (million).’ My question to them was will Marcus Smart take it because they’re contending, he’s a cult hero in town. Every one of them said, ‘Hell no, he’s going for the money.’ I’ve never asked him this question. But that’s the impression I get. You can’t blame young guys who want to go out to the highest bidder and thinks he should be a starter and he’s not going to be one in Boston for many years to come.”

As MacMullan noted, no one could blame Smart for going to the highest bidder, and if he continues to thrive in the postseason for the Celtics, other teams around the league likely will become more willing to offer him a generous deal. Although the C’s surely would love to keep Smart in town for years to come, it’s starting to seem like they’ll face stiff competition in order to do so.

Would we have overkill on wings? Yep. Brown, Tatum, Hayward, Kawhi. A good problem to have and would free up someone for Danny to trade for a needle-moving big. No matter which one is gone we'd still have one of the most dominating wing corp in a league that has definitely gravitated towards wings.

Jackie Mac is starting to make me wonder about her. Quibbling about 12M or 14M, Sacramento losers or potential Boston annual playoff runs?

First of all, Boston matches the 2M difference. That isn't all that high a salary anymore. Even if Smart takes Boston's lower offer, he may make up the difference in shoe contracts and playoff pay. She is talking less than Evan Turner money.

The only way Boston doesn't match is if another team makes a max or close to max offer. Poison pill offer. Unlikely.

First of all, Boston matches the 2M difference. That isn't all that high a salary anymore. Even if Smart takes Boston's lower offer, he may make up the difference in shoe contracts and playoff pay. She is talking less than Evan Turner money.

The only way Boston doesn't match is if another team makes a max or close to max offer. Poison pill offer. Unlikely.

How about this potential problem - six players battling over three positions - that's the two guard and small forwardpositions with Hayward, Brown, Tatum, Irving, Smart and Rozier in the mix. Six players that will probably be expecting starter type minutes - that's 144 minutes divided by 6 = 24 minutes each. It's possible that playing time could, from a players viewpoint, become a major issue. You know how egos are when it comes to playing time. The big bucks go to the prime time players.

Smart gives you extra possessions.He's a special player.And he can play PG very well.

Rozier on the other hand will become a very expensive backup PG once Kyrie returns.Kyrie is a legit tier 1 NBA superstar.So there's no chance of Rozier getting major minutes if Kyrie and Smart are healthy.

It's a good thing Rozier will still be a Celtic next season.

Worst case scenario is the Celts lose Smart in FA.If that happens then the Celts will be able to keep Rozier in 2019.

Best case scenario is the Celts keep Smart on a reasonable deal this summer.That will not be so good for Rozier as there's just not enough minutes for the 3 of them at PG.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBAnowThe debates over trading Rozier because the Celtics can’t afford him are going to look hilarious in retrospect when the cap spikes by a trillion dollars from gambling revenue and he gets the max after they re-sign Smart and they still are under the tax and then he wins MVP.

swish wrote:But what if they were to decide to go elsewhere because of a playing time issue ?

swish

If it comes to that then Danny Ainge will get a significant haul for Rozier.

fierce

Between now and free agency he only has about a 4 million trade value. Who knows the cost if he elects to go the free agent route in 2019.

Ditto for Smart who is up for free agency this summer and has a trade value of about 5.0 mil.

swish

Ainge will not be interested in getting players for Rozier.It will be picks or a lottery pick for Rozier if Ainge does trade Rozier.There's no way Ainge will let Rozier go in free agency.

Regarding Smart, I think Ainge will keep Smart because he's just too valuable.Ainge had an opportunity to get something for Smart last February, at the trade deadline.But since he passed on trading Smart, I think it's clear Ainge and the Celts will give Smart big money this summer.

swish wrote:But what if they were to decide to go elsewhere because of a playing time issue ?

swish

If it comes to that then Danny Ainge will get a significant haul for Rozier.

fierce

Between now and free agency he only has about a 4 million trade value. Who knows the cost if he elects to go the free agent route in 2019.

Ditto for Smart who is up for free agency this summer and has a trade value of about 5.0 mil.

swish

Ainge will not be interested in getting players for Rozier.It will be picks or a lottery pick for Rozier if Ainge does trade Rozier.There's no way Ainge will let Rozier go in free agency.

Regarding Smart, I think Ainge will keep Smart because he's just too valuable.Ainge had an opportunity to get something for Smart last February, at the trade deadline.But since he passed on trading Smart, I think it's clear Ainge and the Celts will give Smart big money this summer.

fierce

That significant haul that you mention might not be so easy to come by - when you consider that teams need only wait until free agency to land him for money only. In any event - - time will tell.

The nice thing about UFA's is that Boston can match the offer. Danny didn't extend Smart this season because he doesn't do things like that. He almost always waits to see what is happening at the last minute. He will wait on both Smart and next year Rozier to see what happens. This puts both of them into the enviable possibility of a sign and trade which makes their value much more than the amounts that Swish was talking about based on their current contracts. Danny has positioned the Celtics to be the team to watch for the next decade. When he took over we had no flexibility whatsoever. It didn't take him long to figure it out and bring us the Rondo led Big Three. (yes, I'm ducking lol) Faced with crippling veteran contracts Danny brought the Golden Eggs to town. Now he has positioned the Celtics for the foreseeable future as the greatest never say die team in NBA history. I like it.

swish wrote:But what if they were to decide to go elsewhere because of a playing time issue ?

swish

If it comes to that then Danny Ainge will get a significant haul for Rozier.

fierce

Between now and free agency he only has about a 4 million trade value. Who knows the cost if he elects to go the free agent route in 2019.

Ditto for Smart who is up for free agency this summer and has a trade value of about 5.0 mil.

swish

Ainge will not be interested in getting players for Rozier.It will be picks or a lottery pick for Rozier if Ainge does trade Rozier.There's no way Ainge will let Rozier go in free agency.

Regarding Smart, I think Ainge will keep Smart because he's just too valuable.Ainge had an opportunity to get something for Smart last February, at the trade deadline.But since he passed on trading Smart, I think it's clear Ainge and the Celts will give Smart big money this summer.

fierce

That significant haul that you mention might not be so easy to come by - when you consider that teams need only wait until free agency to land him for money only. In any event - - time will tell.

swish

To some extent, that's true.But it's no guarantee that if a particular team has the money, Rozier will automatically pick that team.There will be multiple teams interested in Rozier.

Getting Rozier before he becomes a FA is more practical for a team in need of talent.A team like the Suns might prefer a sure thing, like Terry Rozier, over an unproven lottery pick.

Time will tell.

But one thing's for sure, Ainge will not allow Rozier to leave via FA and the Celts get nothing in return.